Book 4: Light and Dark
by shaunasaurus rex
Summary: All hope seems lost when Annebeth gets a mysterious illness that threatens to spread throughout the entire camp. The only hope is a myserious girl locked up in a tower, guarded by the worst monster possible.
1. Chapter 1

The wind blew steadily through the valley, but my thoughts weren't on the weather.

"You're leaving?" My voiced was laced with disbelief and a touch of hurt. I couldn't bear to look at him. I had been so sad the first time he left, but this time it hurt worse. We needed Grover, well, I needed Grover. He was like, my best friend, and he was leaving. _Again._ He started to explain, but I wasn't listening. I just nodded along. I felt disconnected to my body, like I was a puppet someone else was controlling.

"And so I got you a parting gift," Grover finished. He held out a piece of paper proudly. Well, it was almost a piece of paper. It had a huge chunk bitten out of it.

Grover noticed my quizzical stare and shrugged. "Drinking all that coffee made me hungry," He explained. I just had to smile, But my smile quickly turned to tears. This was just one more thing I would miss about Grover.

I was sitting at the edge of the creek, with nothing to do but feel sorry for myself. But worse than my personal pity, was the pity of others. A Hermes camper, Kevin I think, stole me a soda free of charge. That was great and all, but I was so sick of this sympathy. I needed someone to tell me I was overreacting, being a baby, and to get over myself. I knew the perfect girl for the job.

Clarisse was the super-tough daughter of Ares, and my camp rival. She would give me a verbal (or physical, depending on her mood) lashing that would snap me out of my self pity. I went up to her and pushed her. That was sure to aggravate her. No such luck. She turned around, her eyes full of sympathy. I ran away, full of fear. I sooner expected Mr.D, the god of wine, to give up drinking. Then I remembered the paper Grover gave me. I read it the best I could, but it made no sense. It was a riddle, and I simply couldn't understand what it meant.

_The quest seems simple at first look,_

_Retrieving something a monster took,_

_Take another look and you will see,_

_The true essence of monstrosity,_

_Dark and light shall collide,_

_And the explosion will give you a free ride,_

_One shall be tempted by their father's hand,_

_And one trapped in the region of sand._

Just another riddle. I let out a sigh of frustration. I sought out Annebeth. Her wisdom would make some sense of this puzzle.

Unfortunately, Annebeth was nowhere to be seen. I asked around the camp, and no one had seen her today. This was so not my day. Later, after I had seen Annebeth, I would regret feeling sorry for myself. She was in much more danger than I was.


	2. Chapter 2

I was taking my evening walk around the camp, as I often do when I've had a stressful day. My mind has been a blur of thought and interpretations of the riddle, all rejected. Obviously I had a quest to get something a monster took. Duh. What really stumped was 'light and dark will collide, the explosion will give you a free ride'. It was too wide-ranged. And with Annebeth missing in action, Grover off to find Pan, the god of the wild, so I was all alone to do my quest. Or, so I thought.

My dream was like this: I was in a boring cement basement riding a scooter in circles. I could hear the voice of my father above me saying," Keep going son. You're being so helpful to me." But I could her him laughing to himself. He had me doing these dumb laps and he was laughing at me. Anger and resentment swelled up inside me, which doubled when I heard other laughs. Mr.D, Zeus, Hades, Ares, and Athena were laughing at me too. Suddenly a doorway appeared. It glowed with marvelous light and seemed like the entrance to heaven. "Don't be a pawn in those Olympians games. You deserve better," the voice said smoothly. Maybe the door was worth a try…

I awoke with a start to find none other than Apollo standing in front of me.

"Um…hi," was the only intelligent thing I could think to say. He just smiled and lifted his hands in a dramatic gesture, and I knew instantly he was going to recite a haiku.

"_I come to Percy,_

_He wakes up and sees me here,_

_He knows I'm so cool"_

He looks so proud of his creation, that I give him a thumbs-up sign. I know by now if you tell a god their creation sucks, things get blown up. Namely, you.

" I know you have a quest, and I will give you some advice. Forget the movies, avoid the clichés, and you'll do great, you might even live." With those final confusing words, he was gone.


End file.
